Its pretty impressive. The only bad aspects of his game was he lost the ball a couple of times under pressure. Better teams would have punished him and the team. But as he is easing his way back in an odd bit of rustiness here and there is to be expected.
Darren Fletcher's break from football
- Thread starter Maciej
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Is he in the Scotland squad? Wouldn't hurt if he got more minutes there.
Yeah. Bound to start, it's Levein's last hurrah.
I think it's worth remembering that he's had a long, long time out. 8 months? Forgetting his illness altogether you wouldn't expect match fitness and sharpness so it's not worth judging him just yet. Give him time to get back to business and see how he gets on then.
Just to be getting 90 mins in an important game amazes and delights me. To think a matter of months ago I assumed he was finished. All things considered I couldn't ask for more. I now have real hope he can be an important player for us again.
I don't understand this 'he won't be the old Fletcher' stuff.
Fletch is already this good after 8 months out. Who is to say that he can't reach the same levels of 2009 or even exceed them?
He has been very good in his 2 games back. I wish him the best of luck.
Fletch is already this good after 8 months out. Who is to say that he can't reach the same levels of 2009 or even exceed them?
He has been very good in his 2 games back. I wish him the best of luck.
Me too It's great to see him back
You think so? The stats above suggest otherwise.
He was pretty tireless through 2007/2009. He'd play box to box while also protecting the back four game in game out. Whatever role he was playing he always supported tirelessly.
I'm not going to continue to say he's not going to get near his peak again. Considering I've already had to back flip on my earlier prediction of 'gone, will not play a string of good games for United ever again'. It's made him look like Darren Lazarus that prediction has.
Wherever and whenever he plays as long as he does well I am just stoked. He's a very likable player and fellow to boot.
Good to see him getting another 90min under his belt. At this point I still don't want to see him playing to many games though. I feel we really should ease him back into things so that he doesn't suffer any sort of setback. An easy game every couple of weeks tops for the rest of the year I think would be best for him, then if its all going well he will hopefully be able to start having a big impact in the season run in.
I'm really liking him in that holding role, although admittedly all we've seen him against have been Newcastle B and Dracula's local side.
Still, I'd love to see him get some more gametime. I'd imagine we'll see him start against Stoke at OT after the international break.
As an aside I'd love to see a midfield 3 of Scholes -Fletcher - Cleverley, just for the purely homegrown midfield angle of it all.
Still, I'd love to see him get some more gametime. I'd imagine we'll see him start against Stoke at OT after the international break.
As an aside I'd love to see a midfield 3 of Scholes -Fletcher - Cleverley, just for the purely homegrown midfield angle of it all.
I thought he had ended his break from football, but if we want massive threads, okay.
He started well but gradually worse with time. Ended up having an average game. And the times he gave the ball away were some pretty awful passes.
This new role suits him at the moment. Relatively simple and doesn't require him to run around that much. I'm still not sure what sort of level he's at though. Only way to find out is to start him against tougher opposition.
Considering for how long he s been out of the game, I think he did pretty well. He s making progress game after game and I m sure that we ll soon see him as a regular again.
I don't know if he'll get to his best but at the moment I'm really happy with what he's offering.There is absolutely nothing wrong with the mistakes he's made because they're just a testimony of how long he's been out.
All things considered, really glad to him back
All things considered, really glad to him back
Definitely. I didn't think he'd reach this level so quickly.
Hopefully he regains the kind of energy levels he had pre-illness. In the end, his greatest asset was always his harrying.
I was impressed with him last night, considering everything that he has been through. Didn't expect him to be back to the level he is at already. He will gradually get fitter and improve with every game.
We have badly missed him.
We have badly missed him.
Just me who thought he looked miles off the pace then?
Good to see him back and all, and games like last night are perfect for him, but he's nowhere near ready to be starting against the likes of Newcastle in the league. He doesn't even seem to have his body strength back up to any kind of decent level yet.
The passing was made easy for him because we had so many people moving off the ball and Cluj were sitting off ridiculously.
Good to see him back and all, and games like last night are perfect for him, but he's nowhere near ready to be starting against the likes of Newcastle in the league. He doesn't even seem to have his body strength back up to any kind of decent level yet.
The passing was made easy for him because we had so many people moving off the ball and Cluj were sitting off ridiculously.
He lacks dynamism of his former self. He reminds more of Carrick that Fletcher of 2008-2010. Hope he gets his explosive acceleration back.
He's had a relatively easy role to play against two relatively simply opposition. I'm not sure he's ready for the bigger and tighter games but I'm still surprised he's doing as well as he as. The big step now would be to play in the intense league games but that's a tough decision as to when to play him in those.
You're just echoing what I said, Noods.
In fact, it's the only reason why you're right with your opinions.
I'm amazed he has the strength still to play, after what he's been through. Hopefully he will get it all back
I'm just echoing what you said, Sults.
In fact, it's the only reason why I'm right with my opinions.
You're just echoing Sultan's sentiments, noodle. That's the only possible way you could ever be even remotely right
You realise this now gives me free licence to be completely wrong about things?
Bring back Owen Hargreaves!
This echoing business is infectious in a good way.
As a medical consultant?
No, purely to consult on perming techniques
Its not the size of the thread, its what you do with it that counts.
Spoken as a man ;-)
Agreed; although he's looking at least as good as the other player we have in his position this season, which might be slightly blinding people (that and the affection we all have for him).
He looked good again, but similar to the match against Newcastle B he has a very easy role in the squad and witht that role and the poor quality of the opposition its hard to assess how good he really is right now.
I must admit hes done a better job than I expected though. I never really liked him as a player before, except against the likes of Arsenal when we needed a destroyer. Now he seems more calm and composed and less like a headless chicken.
I must admit hes done a better job than I expected though. I never really liked him as a player before, except against the likes of Arsenal when we needed a destroyer. Now he seems more calm and composed and less like a headless chicken.
Not very, is my impression.
But the point is, he has made it through a couple of games now. That is all that can be expected of him at this stage. To be fair I think it is more than could reasonably be expected from him.
I'm just happy the lad is back and surely we will see how far he is in the coming games.
We will probably see that eventually when he gets a start in the PL. He definitely wont be better than Carrick in a holding role. He never was, and theres no reason to believe that a 1 year break from football has suddenly made him a more complete player.
Quotes from Paddy Crerand from beyondthepitch.net today.
"I love Darren Fletcher and I hate to say this, but I wouldn't expect to see him playing again for Manchester United.
"It's a dreadful thing to say and I hope I'm totally wrong, but I don't think I'm going to be wrong.
"He's not been heard of, he's not played anywhere, he's not done anything and I think it would be a miracle if he did come back.
"It's a shame for the lad. If you're doing something you love doing, it's heartbreaking.
"[Especially] for somebody for whom fitness has been the main thing in their life, because to be a professional footballer you have to be immensely fit, more so than most sports.
"I think, outside of boxing it's the fittest sport of the lot of them.
"So for not to be able to do that and keep yourself [in shape]. Even at my age, how stupid I am, I'm in the gym every day."
"I love Darren Fletcher and I hate to say this, but I wouldn't expect to see him playing again for Manchester United.
"It's a dreadful thing to say and I hope I'm totally wrong, but I don't think I'm going to be wrong.
"He's not been heard of, he's not played anywhere, he's not done anything and I think it would be a miracle if he did come back.
"It's a shame for the lad. If you're doing something you love doing, it's heartbreaking.
"[Especially] for somebody for whom fitness has been the main thing in their life, because to be a professional footballer you have to be immensely fit, more so than most sports.
"I think, outside of boxing it's the fittest sport of the lot of them.
"So for not to be able to do that and keep yourself [in shape]. Even at my age, how stupid I am, I'm in the gym every day."
Brutally honest and he's probably right.